Background for the Experiment

If you are a casual or more focused tea drinker you, might wonder why it would be anything new to drink the same tea every day. Many folks drink tea that way.

I’ll share why it is for me. I have dozens and dozens of teas at home. This is a benefit/challenge of being so enthusiastic about trying new teas. No judgment for anyone who doesn’t share the same tea goals!

Even with so many choices, I often enjoy certain teas by drinking them regularly for a while. In those cases, however, the teas are in my daily mix with some regularity, but not necessarily every day. And, I never planned to keep drinking that tea and focus on it every day for X amount of days.

Why I Tried 10 Days One Tea

I have been exploring Dan Cong oolongs more recently, as I have written about. I decided that with so many variations of this style of twisted-leaf, roasted Chinese tea from Guangdong province, it might help me better understand them if I focused on one for a while. Then, I wondered what it would be like to assign myself to drink the same tea every day for over a week.

So, I decided to start with the Jiang Hua (Ginger Flower Fragrance) Phoenix Dan Cong that Azenbor generously sent me. I have been so impressed with their tea after receiving samples that I have bought some at full price since then! And, I liked the sound of a 10-day experiment.

Glazed Clay Teapot Notes

After several days, I really dug into the tasting notes. Ginger Flower Fragrance Dan Cong is credibly aromatic and delightful to sip—floral and creamy and spicy. It has a silky mouthfeel. Azenbor’s tasting notes also mention “creamy mustard notes.“ That’s so true—like an excellent Dijon in the mix! It is really delicious. (And, if I had read that tasting note before trying it, I might not have looked forward to it. I’m so glad I didn’t pre-judge, because it’s absolutely delicious…to me.)

I steeped this Dan Cong at 195F / 200F (90C / 93C) using about 3g of tea in my 80ml glazed clay teapot. I started with a 5-second steep and added 5 seconds each time. This approach brings out all the delightful flavors and aromas and tames that bitter note that can otherwise become prominent in Dan Cong oolongs.

Unglazed Clay Enters the Chat

Another morning during 10 days one tea, I decided to use my lovely unglazed Chaozhou hogni clay teapot. Although this teapot is recommended for Dan Cong oolongs, I don’t always prefer it over porcelain or glazed clay. I must add–I don’t prefer it, yet?

Not intending to do this experiment, I realized that in the Chaozhou teapot I prefer 200F to 195F (93C to 90C) for this tea. Note—these teapots are very thin, so it’s recommended to fill them with a lower temperature water first—not to take them straight from room temperature to very hot. They might crack otherwise.

The unglazed clay softens the tea—folks might prefer it one way or the other. I find it very pleasant, but it usually mutes some flavor notes I enjoy when the tea is steeped in the glazed teapot. Going a bit hotter gave me that softness with more of the notes I had been missing. Nice discovery! I need to explore this more. I’m tempted to try the unglazed teapot at 205F (96C) another time.

Decision Made for 10 Days

One thing I didn’t anticipate and really appreciated. I enjoyed NOT having to choose my tea every morning. If you have ever suffered from decision fatigue, you know having one less decision to make can be a relief. Since I usually have two different teas every day, I still felt like I could be spontaneous for my afternoon tea choice. (Generally, I like choosing a tea based on how I feel.)

I really enjoyed the balance of not having to choose for one session and getting to choose for the other. This 10 days one tea experience made me wonder if I was dealing with decision fatigue and didn’t even realize it. Or maybe I am just enjoying the novelty of not choosing in the morning for a while.

Bodily Sensations from One Tea

I’m not sure what to say about any emotional or energetic effects the Ginger Flower Fragrance tea has on me.

So far, I notice calm energy. It definitely doesn’t give me frenetic energy. (I’m looking at you–and judging–Bao Zhong.) I think I don’t feel more sure about bodily specifics of this tea because we have had an unusual number of rainy (and cold!) June days in a row.

I did notice a “returning sweetness” in the back of my throat after sipping this tea. That bodily sensation with Dan Cong hadn’t been on my radar before this 10 days, one tea experiment. I don’t think it’s what tea heads officially call “hui gan.” They often describe that sensation as occurring after a moderately or intensely bitter tea (which this tea is not, steeped as I am steeping it). Some folks say that a “cooling” sensation accompanies it. So, I *think* what I experience is maybe not hui gan. But, I am delighted to notice this sensation and flavor at the back of throat after drinking Jiang Hua.

Final Thoughts

I enjoyed this experiment. I think I will try it for another Phoenix Dan Cong oolong. Another 10 days one tea in the future!

Do you have any Dan Cong, or even better–Jiang Hua Dan Cong–thoughts or advice to share with me? I’d love to know!

The post 10 Days One Tea appeared first on Tea Infusiast.

I am now a huge fan of Phoenix Dan Cong. I’ve learned to deeply appreciate this Chinese, twisted-leaf oolong from the Phoenix Mountains ( in Chinese, Fenghuangshan). The more common flavor notes among the different floral and spice notes in the varieties that I’ve tried so far are: minerality, hops, and a slight and beautiful bitterness (if brewed carefully). There’s always a lush fruity and/or floral aroma(s) as well. These leaves are so fragrant–despite not being blended or scented–that they are named for their floral and/or spice aromas.

I have deeper experience with a couple Dan Cong oolongs. The first is named misleadingly. I’ve loved Ya Shi Xiang, translated as “Duck Shit Aroma,” although it smells beautifully floral. There are lots of theories about why this tea is named this way. I’ve also had many beautiful sessions with Mi Lan Xiang (Honey Orchid Aroma). I even named one of my tea pet rabbits Mi Lan (shown in the nearby photo), in honor of this tea.

I’ve long wanted to explore a fuller range of Phoenix Dan Cong, so when Azenbor reached out and offered to send their “10 Aroma Tea Sampler Box,” and were happy with my review policy, I gladly accepted.

10 Aroma Dan Cong Sampler

As the name suggests, Azenbor’s 10 Aroma Tea Sampler Box contains 10 different Phoenix Dan Cong oolongs. The tea arrives packaged as loose leaf, with 7 grams of each selection.

The box includes, in alphabetical order by English name:

• Almond Fragrance (Xing Ren)
• Cinnamon Fragrance (Rou Gui)
• Ginger Flower Fragrance (Jiang Hua)
• Honey Orchid Fragrance (Mi Lan)
• Jasmine Fragrance (Mo Li)
• Magnolia Fragrance (Yu Lan)
• Night Blooming Fragrance (Ye Lai)
• Orchid Fragrance (Zhi Lan)
• Osmanthus Fragrance (Gui Hua)
• Yellow Gardenia Fragrance (Huang Zhi)

Benefits of This Phoenix Dan Cong Sampler

7 grams of tea is a generous amount of loose leaf to have one gongfu session for each of these teas. Azenbor recommends 5-7 grams per 120 ml teapot. I know from experience that when I’m drinking tea solo, that’s too much caffeine for me in one session. So, the 7 grams is perfect for me to prepare 3.5 grams of the tea twice. I’ll use one of my smaller–80-100 ml–gongfu teapots so I get a good leaf: water ratio.

The sheer number of teas–10–in this sampler box is wonderful! It allows you to get a good sense of the varieties of Phoenix Dan Cong.

What’s more, by including so many different varieties, this Azenbor sampler allows you to see which teas you might like to order more of to explore in more detail.

Preparing to Steep

I only do tea tasting when I have a lot of time and in the right mindset, so I haven’t torn through these Phoenix Dan Cong samples. I have, however, savored them!

To date, I’ve steeped (sometimes twice) the Huang Shi (Yellow Gardenia), Ye Lai (Evening Fragrance), Mi Lan (Honey Orchid), and Zhi Lan (Orchid Fragrance).

Here are some of my aromatic and tasting notes! I went back and forth between steeping in a Chaozhou clay teapot (from the area where Dan Cong is produced) and in glazed clay or porcelain teapots. Their outcomes are slightly different. I can never decide which I prefer.

My Tasting Notes

Each tea, below, had a minerality, a degree of hops, and a blend of sweet and bitter notes–the latter in the best sense, to keep it from being cloying and adding interest. I will mention the hops or bitter, at times, if it shows up in distinctive ways.

• Huang Shi (Yellow Gardenia): Warmed leaves exude a floral fragrance with other notes like hops, and touch of sweet corn. My flavor notes include: floral, touch of orange and roasted corn. I note the third infusion aroma smelled remarkably similar to a wildflower honey our family has been getting for years. (Yum!)
• Ye Lai (Night Blooming Fragrance): The warmed, dry leaves smell of berries and flowers. As my daughter. Clara, astutely noted, it was floral just like “the blooming camellia house” at our local arboretum. She dubbed this aroma “greenhouse core,” which made me chuckle. I also detected a slightly earthy/ woody note hiding out in the stacked aromas. The aroma is absolutely delightful. The flavor is amazing, too. The floral notes were well integrated into the flavor profile. I detected that floral and the flavor of fresh tomato vine in the second steep. Clara noted that mild and pleasant earthy flavor in the third steep. In her words “like the roots in the greenhouse.”

• Mi Lan (Honey Orchid): I already had substantial experience with Mi Lan Dan Cong. Azenbor’s did not disappoint! The dry leaf was floral and peachy. The wet leaves added a note of hops to the dry-leaf aromas. The tea flavor was a delightful tapestry of flowers, hops, and almond.
• Zhi Lan (Orchid): I wish I could remember the aroma of orchids. The orchids I grow at home don’t emit any fragrance. I was able to faintly smell an aromatic orchid at an orchid show, but with so many people and other plants, it didn’t imprint! So, although it might smell like orchid, the Zhi Lan Phoenix Dan Cong gave floral, peach, and almond extra aromas. The warmed leaves shared a fragrance of light marzipan, flowers, and tomato vine. The taste was sweet and simultaneously bitter, in a pleasant way. The tastes match the dry leaf aroma with a plum blossom flavor also showing up in the early steeps.

Exploring More Phoenix Dan Cong

This Phoenix Oolong 10 Aroma Tea Sampler Box from Azenbor has inspired me to continue exploring the varieties I am less familiar with, and maybe slip in more Mi Lan in my next order! I can’t wait to steep the others. I’ll be trying to decide which I might order in regular sizes to get to know better.

Do you have a favorite Phoenix Dan Cong variety? Do you prefer unglazed or clay for steeping your Dan Cong oolong? I’d love to know.

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